Seeing is believing. Proof a CIRM-funded therapy is making a difference

You have almost certainly never heard of Thelma, or met her, or know anything about her. She’s a lady living in England who, if it wasn’t for a CIRM-funded therapy, might not be living at all. She’s proof that what we do, is helping people.

Thelma is featured in a video about a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most severe forms of blood cancer. Thelma took part in a clinical trial, called CAMELLIA, at Oxford Cancer Centre in Oxford, UK. The clinical trial uses a therapy that blocks a protein called CD47 that is found on the surface of cancer cells, including cancer stem cells which can evade traditional therapies. The video was shot to thank the charity Bloodwise for raising the funds to pay for the trial.

Prof. Paresh Vyas of Oxford University, who was part of the clinical trial team that treated Thelma, says patients with this condition face long odds.

“Patients with acute myeloid leukemia have the most aggressive blood cancer. We really haven’t had good treatments for this condition for the last 40 years.”

While this video was shot in England, featuring English nurses and doctors and patients, the therapy itself was developed here in California, first at Stanford University under the guidance of Irv Weissman and, more recently, at Forty Seven Inc. That company is now about to test their approach in a CIRM-funded clinical trial here in the US.

This is an example of how CIRM doesn’t just fund research, we invest in it. We help support it at every stage, from the earliest research through to clinical trials. Without our early support this work may not have made it this far.

The Forty Seven Inc. therapy uses the patient’s own immune system to help fight back against cancer stem cells. It’s looking very promising. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Take Thelma’s.